Aust sailor rejects US stolen coin charge

An Australian sailor who lost his wife in mysterious circumstances while on a Cuba to Florida honeymoon private cruise has entered a not guilty plea in a US court to transporting stolen gold and silver coins.

Lewis Bennett, 40, was indicted last week by a grand jury on the stolen coin charge and faces a maximum sentence of 10 years' jail if convicted.

Bennett allegedly told authorities he was asleep on his 12-metre catamaran and his wife, Colombian-born Isabella Hellman, was at the helm as it sailed from Havana to Florida on May 15.

Bennett claimed he heard a thud about 1am, the catamaran started to sink, he could not find Ms Hellman, he alerted the US Coast Guard, deployed a life raft and abandoned the vessel with personal belongings, the FBI alleged in the criminal complaint.

When he was picked up by a Coast Guard helicopter, a rescue swimmer allegedly noted Bennett, an Australian-UK dual citizen, had a backpack that "was unusually heavy".

Another bag left in his life raft allegedly contained 158 "English Year of the Horse" silver coins and 77 "Canadian Maple Leaf" coins.

Authorities allege the owner of a sailing vessel Bennett worked on as a first mate in St Maarten a year earlier had $US100,000 ($A126,770) in gold and silver coins stolen from a floor compartment.

The FBI has declined to say if they were also investigating Bennett for the disappearance of Ms Hellman.

Bennett, in custody on $US250,000 bond, was held in a Monroe County jail in the Florida Keys, but when Hurricane Irma cut its recent destructive path he was one of 466 inmates moved north to other Florida jails.